From A Broken Friendship Comes
by Falling.Thoughts
Summary: NejiXOC, another of my quizilla requests : Feuding friends, a fight and being pinned.Oh Wow!


It was official now, I was 17. No matter what anyone else said though, I didn't feel any different within myself. It was just another milestone, something to measure my progress by. My family didn't see it that way and apparently, my friends didn't either as they had thrown a huge party in order to celebrate. And I had ended up annoyed and ready to punch someone - namely Tenten - by the end of the night. It was obvious we didn't like each other, but I guess Sakura and Ino couldn't bring themselves to not invite her, so I was forced to try and be a good hostess and put up with her. I was doing quite well until she started throwing herself at Neji. That was the reason we had fallen out in the first place. In the academy, at first I had respected her and her skill, but then the same guy had caught our attention. I thought we could remain friends - that whoever succeeded in capturing his attention wouldn't be smug and the other would be happy for her - I was wrong. The second I told her, her whole personality changed. She had accused me of some horrible things, mainly of befriending her simply to be closer to him. It was completely unfair and it hurt. Seeing her draping herself over him reminded me of that argument, and how we had barely spoken since. But, being me, I smothered my obnoxious side, the one that made me want to scream at her, with a more familiar attitude and put up with it. All in all, my seventeenth had been nothing special, although I appreciated the effort those around me had gone to. The only consolation was that the Hyuuga was completely stoic throughout her flirting, disentangling himself frequently. It was partly that attitude which made me like him in the first place. The calm and the control. It didn't matter though, as Neji was too preoccupied with his own life to get involved with someone else's or allow someone to intrude on his.

That whole fiasco was yesterday though and I was determined to simply move on. It was easier said than done though; living in the same village as Tenten meant it was inevitable that at some point we would run into each other. It just so happened that the Hokage decided to give us a mission together, Kami only knows why. We had to escort the son of some important civilian back to his home city. Apparently he didn't really need the protection, but his father was paranoid so he hired ninja just in case. There was silence between us at first, save for the words necessary to be polite to the man. I didn't bother remembering his name, it didn't interest me. It was pure silence for a while, but I guess the guy got bored because he started conversation with Tenten. He had tried before with me, but I chose to give one word answers which eventually discouraged him. Working with my old best friend was bad enough, without inane drivel to add to the torment. Listening to their chatter, I could pick out the subtle insults from Tenten toward me.

"I apologise for my teammate's rudeness." Well, I could sort of understand that one. I had basically ignored the poor boy after all.

"Yes, well, there are two of us because one has to make up for the others lower level of skill." Now that was harsh. It was a well known fact that she and I were on a level playing field when it came to our ninja capabilities; our last fight, before we had fallen out had proved that one.

"I don't even know why the Lady Hokage sent her with us, stupid bitch isn't even doing anything." This was followed by laughter, from both her and the man. And it was the last straw. Bringing my fist back, I span her round with one hand and punched her in the face with the other. Catching her attempt to counter, I growled, the constant jabs and teasing finally pushing me to show my other side. The one who didn't just lie down and take anything she threw at me.

"Shut up. I've had enough of this now Tenten. For years I've been putting up with this crap from you, but not anymore. He's just a guy for Kami's sake! Why did we have to fall out over him Ten? You were my best friend; I looked up to you. But... you just pushed me away." I let my voice fall, pain replacing the anger I felt toward her. "Do you have any idea how much that hurt? How much it still hurts?"

She snorted. "It hurts you huh? Well good. Maybe now you realise how it feels for me to know that Neji has always liked you better than me, and he still does. How you took advantage of me just to get close to him! How it felt to have my so-called best friend stab me in the back."

"You just don't get it do you?" I murmured softly, "I would never have chosen him over you, **never. **You made that decision for me." Before she had chance to react, I let her go and took the lead, keeping myself far enough in front that I could barely hear their mumbling. For the rest of our mission we didn't speak and there were no incidents. All that was running through my mind was her words. "He always liked you better than me."

Back in Konoha, I was about to go when she caught my arm, wincing at the icy glare I turned upon her. She had the decency to look at the floor when she spoke.

"Rein. I... I'm so sorry. I just… let everything get out of control and then by the time I realised what I had done was wrong, it was too late. I'd already alienated you."

"You know, that's about four years late." I replied.

"I know." She sighed. "Do you think we could ever be friends again Rein-chan?"

I half-smiled bitterly, shaking my head. "I don't know Tenten. I just don't know."

True to her word, she changed overnight. Now when I would see her, she would smile and wave. We even had conversations again, steadily working to get back to what we once were. Even better, I got to see Neji more as I often trained with them. It was nice. Well, more than nice to be honest, but I had returned to my normal shy self, which resulted in me blushing quite often in the presence of my long term crush. It was strange how I'd never really grown out of it and he seemed to notice too, for I often caught the smug smirks that flashed in my direction. It looked like Tenten was right after all. For some reason though, I couldn't seem to take any action though, so it was left to Neji to do so. He cornered me after practice, Tenten slipping away with a smile in my direction. I think I must have had a panicked expression, for he chuckled slightly, hands resting either side of my head as I pressed back into the tree I had been leaning on.

"Rein-chan, I think we've been avoiding this for a long time now."

"Um, avoiding what?" I questioned stupidly, before mentally slapping myself and blushing. With a knowing smirk, he leant closer to me.

"I think you know what. Why is it, Rein that while you're just quiet with everyone else, you're shy with me? We've known each other for years, and according to Tenten, we've liked each other for almost that long too."

"I'm going to have to punch her again." I chuckled breathily and when he lifted an eyebrow in question, I shook my head. "It's a long story."

"You'll have to tell me when we're done."

"Done with wha-" His lips touched my own, stopping my idiotic words and turning them into a slight gasp. All this time and you would think that I would react instantly, but I didn't and he broke away hesitantly. The arrogant and oh-so-sure of himself Hyuuga was uncomfortable, and that knowledge alone jolted me back into reality and I pulled him back down, one hand winding into his hair as the other rested on his neck. Thankfully, Neji wasn't as brain-dead as I was and he returned the kiss, pressing me gently back into the sturdy tree trunk. His hands rested just beneath the hem of my shirt, one massaging the skin there as the other slid behind me and cupped my backside. Surprised, I pressed tighter to him, feeling his toned body against mine as he lifted me up and coaxed my legs around his waist. Tickling my lips with his tongue, I let them open, welcoming the move. There was more of an embrace than a fight, the muscles moving over each other, caressing. His hands slid higher, drawing a slight moan from me, forcing his lips to curve once more into that sexy smirk. In retaliation almost, I trailed my fingers over a nipple, earning a startled moan in return. Without releasing me, he must have formed the necessary hand-signs because the next thing I knew, I was pushed down onto soft quilt, straddled by the downright sexy boy above me. Part of me was wondering what had happened to the shyness, but my last coherent thought unrelated to my lover was that he was going to have a long wait for that story.


End file.
